


126. Road trips to nowhere

by tveckling



Series: Dare to Write challenge [45]
Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotionally constipated Mercutio, Humor, Kissing, M/M, Not emotionally constipated Romeo, Road Trips, Sappy, lbr Mercutio loves his shitty van so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 23:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9792041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tveckling/pseuds/tveckling
Summary: The roar of a car horn that shot through the calm silence nearly made Romeo jump out of his skin, and it definitely made him rip apart the paper he’d been writing on. Clutching at his chest and staring down at his ruined essay—he had almost come up with a title! A few more tries and he’d get it!—he jerked when the horn sounded again. And again. And a very, very long one. What sort of asshole lunatic had decided to park their loud car on his street?“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, you’re already as pretty as you’ll get so come on already! We don’t have all day!”Oh, that explained it.





	

The roar of a car horn that shot through the calm silence nearly made Romeo jump out of his skin, and it definitely made him rip apart the paper he’d been writing on. Clutching at his chest and staring down at his ruined essay—he had almost come up with a title! A few more tries and he’d get it!—he jerked when the horn sounded again. And again. And a very, very long one. What sort of asshole lunatic had decided to park their loud car on his street?

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, you’re already as pretty as you’ll get so come on already! We don’t have all day!”

Oh, that explained it.

Romeo grinned wildly as he hopped from his chair and skipped over to throw his window open. Mercutio was hanging halfway out the driver window of his old and battered, and generally pretty shitty, van, his face lightning up when he saw Romeo. Just to be an ass he pushed the car horn three times in rapid succession, making Romeo snort.

“I’m awake, I’m awake,” he shouted over the loud noise. As expected it made the noise stop. “I can see someone who might be in need of some beauty sleep, however.”

Mercutio shook his head sadly with a hand dramatically placed on his chest. “How cruel, how cruel you are when disturbed. I would suggest you go straight for the heart instead of the jugular, but with that hairstyle I doubt you’ll be able to see the difference.”

Romeo pouted and flicked away some stray hair from his eye. “It’s not that long,” he muttered to himself. “And it’s not like your hair is any shorter!”

“But I make it look good.” Mercutio preened and tossed with his head, making Romeo laugh.

“You’re saying I don’t?” he asked once he had gotten his laughter under control, leaning out on the windowsill with a wide smile.

For some reason that made Mercutio hesitate, and as Romeo waited curiously he muttered something under his breath then shouted, “Get your things and get in, loser, we’re going shopping!”

“Are we?” Romeo couldn’t imagine why he would need to ‘get his things’ if they were just going shopping? And besides, Mercutio’s van had been blacklisted from every mall and larger store nearby so he would have grabbed Paris’ car or something, wouldn’t he?

“Nah, but it’s blasphemy to not quote Mean Girls when able to,” Mercutio said seriously. Romeo nodded in agreement, though he didn’t quite share Mercutio fascination. “Get things for a few days at least. It’s time for a road trip, baby!”

“Awesome! Be right down,” Romeo shouted and closed his window. The remains of his thesis still lay on his desk, but he only spared a quick, guilty look before he put it out of his mind. He’d have time for it when he came back. It took less than a couple minutes to get outside, since he always kept a bag filled with clothes and necessities ready in his room, but he had a feeling Mercutio had just been about to lean on the horn again.

After jumping in on the passenger side Romeo threw the bag behind him, and Mercutio started the engine. As always Romeo immediately turned the radio volume down, since Mercutio had the idea that everyone in the neighborhood wanted to hear every word of whatever he was listening to, and Mercutio pouted at him for doing so. It wasn’t a look that had ever worked on him, of course.

“So, just you and me, then?” Romeo asked.

“Ugh, yeah. Ben is a boring nerd as always, completely ignoring what’s most important in life—me! And you and the rest of his friends, of course—and he’s been focusing completely on his studies. So, no, this is a Benvolio free trip,” Mercutio said with a haughty sniff.

“Nice. It’s been a while since we got together like this, just the two of us.” Romeo played with the radio for a while, finally settling on a station that didn’t have too bad music.

“Yeah.” Mercutio fell silent after that, which was odd in itself, but when Romeo looked over he shrugged with a carefree smile and turned back to his driving. Romeo smiled back and leaned against the window, looking at the houses passing by.

The trip continued like that for a few hours, the two of them sometimes chatting a little but mostly keeping a comfortable silence between them, until they had left the city far behind them. Romeo stretched and looked over at Mercutio, reaching out to poke at his cheek. The dusk was well settling in, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to find someplace to settle for the night.

“So where we going, anyway?”

“No clue,” Mercutio answered and swatted at Romeo’s finger. “Just driving.”

“Ah, one of those trips. Okay. Well, where are we now? Maybe we’re heading towards someplace interesting.”

“Yeah, about that… I have no idea. I was lost, like, ten minutes after we left your street.” Mercutio didn’t even look at him.

Romeo stayed silent and let his look speak for him.

“Oh, shut up,” Mercutio glanced over and waved his hand in Romeo’s face. “If you’re so good at this shit, then why don’t you know where we are? You’ve been in the car just as long as I’ve been.”

“I’m not the one driving; I don’t have to know where we are.” Romeo grabbed Mercutio’s hand and they had a short tug-of-war before Romeo released it. “Fine, you got me in the car for a trip you have no plan for, and then immediately got us lost. Am I supposed to fear for my life? Are you going to drive out into the woods and kill me and make sure no one can ever find me again?”

“Yes, that’s precisely what I’m going to do. You found me out! And so much quicker than I expected. Well done, padawan, well done indeed.” Mercutio snorted. “We’ll just drive until we find some place to stop, and then we’ll see where we are.”

Romeo pouted—he hated being called a padawan. He’d be just as much of a jedi knight as Mercutio would be, not some inferior apprentice. “Sure. And not that I don’t like these random unplanned trips of yours, and I think Ben can be a stick in the mud about planning sometimes, but I like to at least know where I am.”

“We’re getting there, don’t worry.”

That was the last they spoke for the next hour, until, finally, they saw a sign for a bed and breakfast. It turned out to be a smaller house owned by a nice, older man who happily opened for them despite the late hour and chatted while he led them to their room, where they found they’d have to share a single bed. He had six rooms, he told them apologetically, but two were being renovated and the rest were already in use, so that room was the only one he could offer. For their troubles they would only have to pay for one person.

Romeo didn’t bother looking at Mercutio for his opinion, because it was Mercutio’s fault they were there after all, before he smiled, thanked the man, and said that they would take the room. He kept smiling until the door had closed behind the man, then he sighed long and hard and fell down face first into the bed. It didn’t feel too bad, he noted absently.

“Okay, we know where we are, we have a room for the night, we know what destination we’re going and everything. Are you still mad?” Mercutio nudged Romeo’s foot with his own.

“I’m not mad,” said Romeo unintelligible, what with his face burrowed into the bed sheets. After another nudge he raised his head and repeated the words, then turned to lie on his back instead so he could speak without problems. “I’m not, really. I was, but I got over it. You’re the one who’s been acting weird, not me.”

“What, we’re shifting blame now?” Mercutio asked, but his snort was amused rather than annoyed. Not that Romeo would have cared much if he had been annoyed; he knew Mercutio far too well for that.

“You were weird even before we started driving. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?” Romeo shifted to look at Mercutio who was standing next to the bed, looking down on him with an unreadable face. Normally Romeo would have taken the challenge and done his best to figure out what feelings hid behind that face, but now he was more interested in continuing his line of thought. “And then the whole drive you’ve been quiet and thoughtful, only talking when I started a conversation. It was nice, don’t get me wrong, but that is so not the regular you. Something’s on your mind, isn’t it? Tell me. That’s what you took me along for, wasn’t it?”

Mercutio stood silently and stared for a while, while Romeo patiently looked back at him, until he groaned and sat down on the edge of the bed. He tried glaring at Romeo, but they could both tell it was half-hearted at best. “Sometimes you’re far more perceptive than anyone has a right to be, you know that?”

“And I know you won’t talk about feelings or be serious unless someone forces you kicking and screaming into a situation where you must be.” Romeo smiled, calm and at peace, far more than Mercutio. “So tell me. You know you can tell me anything.”

Mercutio made a face at the clichéd sentence, then sighed heavily and rubbed his face. “Do I have to? Can’t we just- it was nice, why don’t we just not talk about it and continue the trip without any serious conversations? That’s a nice idea, isn’t it?”

“It is. But it won’t happen. I’m dragging you kicking and screaming, so talk.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m either kicking or screaming right now,” Mercutio muttered. “I think you would notice if I were.” When he fell silent Romeo let him; he could take as long as he wanted to, as long as he didn’t try to escape or change subject. “It’s stupid, that’s what it is. You know. You’ve been the type to fall for people, left and right, but I’m not- like that. I don’t do feelings. You flirt with someone, you have sex, you say thanks, and that’s it, you go your separate ways. Why go to trouble with anything more than that, you know?”

Romeo hummed agreeably, encouraging Mercutio to go on.

“And I don’t even know if I’m even- it’s not like it has to be. It could be puberty, you know.” Mercutio rolled his eyes at Romeo’s snort. “Yeah, I know we’re far past puberty, thanks for pointing it out. I’m just saying. Maybe some things take longer to show up than others? I don’t know. Or it could just be that I’m confused, thinking it’s something when it’s really something completely different.”

Romeo smiled and rolled his eyes. It was time to interrupt or Mercutio would keep on going in circles without ever saying something. “I’m going to describe something. Just listen, and then after you can say if you recognize any of it, okay?” While he waited for Mercutio’s nod Romeo sat up so they were face to face. “When you wake up, alone in your bed, you get the feeling that there is something missing. You can’t put your finger on it, but it stays with you the rest of the day—until you see that one person, that one special person that you’ve been finding yourself thinking about plenty of times that day. And the person smiles at you, and even if you wanted to you don’t think you would be able to not smile back. You talk, and you find yourself thinking that you could listen to this person talk forever, about anything at all. And when they laugh you feel your heart grow lighter just by listening to them, and if you could you would record the sound so you could fall asleep listening to it.

"Hours can feel like minutes around this person, but at the same time you feel wrapped in a sense that you’re in a moment that will last forever. Anything seems to be worth the time or effort if it means you can spend time with them. You could spend hours in the library, just sitting shoulder to shoulder, or drive around aimlessly for days, only in each other’s company. And when you touch—” Romeo’s smiled widened as he noticed he had Mercutio’s complete attention. He reached out to curl one hand around Mercutio’s, and noticed the hitch in Mercutio’s breathing. “—when you touch each other it sends a small, tingling sensation through your entire body. It feels _right_ , in a way few other things can feel. Your mind is suddenly filled with thoughts of moving closer, of feeling more. You didn’t even notice when that missing sensation you woke up with disappeared.”

Mercutio’s tongue quickly wet his lips as Romeo shifted a little closer, and his eyes kept looking anywhere but at Romeo’s face. “What’s-” he started hoarsely.

Romeo chuckled and cupped Mercutio’s face. “Sometimes you’re far less perceptive than anyone has a right to be, you know that?” he said. When Mercutio finally looked at him, with a mixture of outrage and guarded hope, Romeo closed the distance between them and kissed him softly.

When he leaned back again Mercutio sat still, looking at him through heavy-lidded eyes. “You knew?”

“I started suspecting a while ago. I wasn’t entirely sure until today.” Romeo lied down again and stretched, not missing the way Mercutio’s eyes followed his movements.

“And you’re not-”

“I am very okay with it. More than okay.” Romeo beckoned for Mercutio to come closer, then pulled him down and crashed their mouths together in a significantly less gentle kiss. When they finally parted, both breathing hard, he grinned up at Mercutio. “You really are more unaware than I thought. I’ve been flirting with you for weeks, trying to see if you really were interested or not, and you’ve flirted back but in such a way I never knew if if was a joke or not. It was maddening!”

Mercutio sniggered, resting his head against Romeo’s collarbone. “I had no idea,” he confessed. When he raised his head there was a look in his eye that made Romeo’s stomach tingle. ”I am very, very interested. If you’d like I’d be happy to show you.“


End file.
